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VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 



FROM THE EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 



ALBANY 
1912 



n. m TV. 

JUN S t9l7 



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XIII 
VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 

PREPARED BY 

ARTHUR D. DEAN 
Chief, Division of Vocational Schools 

The vocational schools will succeed only when they are suited 
to and an expression of the life of New York State. The problem 
has been to interpret this life in terms of educational effort. For 
years a well-knit and unified system of schools has been in existence 
in this State. With the passage of a law authorizing vocational 
schools there came the problem of administering them in the letter^ 
of the law and at the same time to continue the best traditions of 
our State system of education. 

The problem was deeper than the mere establishment of a few 
isolated and special schools. It was the problem of establishing 
a new type of education which would work alongside of, and not 
be antagonistic to, an older type. It was to be a type that would 
assist the older in doing better a few things that its good intentions 
led it to do and at the same time developing within itself a line of 
work which it could do a bit better than its neighbor who had 
primarily other things to do. 

Courses in cooking, sewing and manual training for the seventh 
and eighth grades are outlined in the Syllabus for Elementary 
schools. These courses are entitled to have their work considered as 
one-half the value of the work required in these subjects in the acai- 
demic course, and on completing the required number of hours in 
such subjects after entering the high school the pupils are entitled to 
receive the full academic credit allowed. Courses in elementary 
agriculture are offered in schools located in the open country. The 
operation of such courses is in its initial stage. 

Courses in drawing, shop work, domestic science, domestic art and 
agriculture have been developed for the high schools. These courses 
receive adequate recognition in the matter of credits. It is possible, 
for a high school pupil to receive as high as i6 counts in shopwork 
or 20 counts, in agriculture; for a high school girl to receive 8 
counts in household arts. Courses in drawing are offered which, for 
the average pupil, aggregate 8 counts. The local courses of study 



in these subjects are approved by the Division of Vocational Schools 
and inspection of the results is assigned to the same division. The 
increase in the quantity of manual, household and agricultural arts 
instruction has been remarkable. The fact that credits are allowed 
without examination imposes a responsibility. Fortunately, prac- 
tically every teacher who has been licensed to teach these subjects 
has been specially prepared for his work in some professional institu- 
tion or its equivalent ; otherwise the practice of allowing credit with- 
out examination might result in a lowering of educational standards. 
Outside of New York City there are now 109 teachers giving 
instruction in homemaking to 17,113 girls in the upper grades of the 
grammar school and in the high school. In the same territory there 
are now 68 teachers giving instruction in manual arts to 13,320 pupils 
in the upper grades of the grammar school and in the high school. 

THE INTERMEDIATE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 

The plan as now operating provides that five-twelfths of the school 
program shall be given over to shop, laboratory and drawing instruc- 
tion and that the remaining seven-twelfths be devoted to '' book 
studies," which practically amounts to saying that the pupils shall 
for the remainder of the time take the regular elementary school 
studies corresponding to the seventh and eighth grades. ' These 
studies are related to the industrial studies as far as is possible. Both 
boys and girls have similar work in English and history. The arith- 
metic course for boys differs from that for girls. The geography 
is viewed as an outgrowth of the life-long problem of providing 
ftiod, clothing and slielter. The physiology is studied from the view- 
point of hygiene and sanitation rather than the structural only. The 
shop, laboratory and drawing work differs with the sex considered. 

The questions naturally arise : Are these children receiving an 
education? Can they enter the high school? One superintendent 
writes : " We had no trade school for our graduates of the inter- 
mediate industrial school to enter. They were obliged to enter our 
regular courses in the high school. We had hardly expected that 
many would care to. That was one reason for advising them to 
enter the vocational school. The majority, however, did enter the 
high school and for all I can see are doing as good work as those 
who finished the eighth grade in the regular schools." On the 
surface it would seem impossible to do as much 1x)okwork in seven- 
twelfths of a day's program as the regular seventh and eighth 
grade pupils accomplish in a whole day ; nevertheless, thus far the 



piij-'ils in the intermediate industrial schools seem to be accomplishing 
it. Let us note the possible reasons. We must remember (i) that 
in the vocational sections a teacher does not handle more than 25 pu- 
pils at a time and more individual instruction is possible ; (2) that the 
book studies of English, history and geography may be so correlated 
that penmanship and spelling are brought into every written lesson 
and that practice in reading appears in the history and geography; 
(3) that, the bookwork is not interrupted by the visitations; of a 
.drawing, music, or manual arts supervisor; (4) that the connection 
between the shopwork and the bookwork is so close that one natu- 
rally assists the other; and (5) that the hours spent in the shop and 
drawing room afford a relief from brain fatigue. 

VOCATIONAL COURSES IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 
The Education Department proposes a plan by which an 
average high school now teaching college preparatory^ commer- 
cial, industrial and homemaking subjects can economically and 
effectively develop courses of instruction along the lines sug- 
gested by the syllabus which shall have a well-blended, liberal 
and vocational training. Instead of these schools offering com- 
mercial, industrial and homemaking subjects it is proposed, that 
they offer well-defined courses for pupils who seek different des- 
tinations. A certain amount of the work will be common to all 
these courses and will consist of the prescribed studies which 
are deemed essential to a sound and symmetrical education and 
which, under normal conditions, should be prescribed for all 
pupils in a secondary school. These prescribed studies are Eng- 
lish for four years, English history, American history with civics, 
algebra, plane geometry, biology, and physics. Another division 
consists of such elective subjects as may be necessary for pupils 
seeking different destinations. 

The " industrial and agricultural purpose " courses have in- 
tensive courses in the agricultural and manual arts and drawing. 
The " homemaking purpose " course is rounded out with strong 
courses in domestic science and art, household decoration, sanita- 
tion, and personal hygiene. It can not be emphasized too often 
that a vocational course does not consist merely of vocational 
subjects thrown at random into a high school system. The voca- 
tional purpose must be satisfied by a definite course. 

The subjects of manual and agricultural arts have not been 
incorporated in the college preparatory or c^ommercial groups. 



No one is willing to say that it is a waste of time for a boy in 
the college preparatory group to elect some handwork, but a 
better time to gain the most effective educational value from this 
subject is when the boy is in the seventh and eighth grades. 
To take shopwork without accompanying it with strong courses 
in medhanical 'drawing, related science and mathematics is to 
overlook the educational importance of true educational hand- 
work in the secondary school. A line of shopwork which 
merely consists of making a few articles of furniture, which 
simply train skill of hand, and which has nothing to do with 
vocational direction or with other school studies, has not the 
educational value to which the high school boy is entitled. Of 
course we are considering that handwork in secondary schools is 
to have educational value. If it is given merely to gain credits 
or to keep the boy busy or happy or out of mischief, then, of 
course, serious educational questions of how to make the manual 
arts really effective, have no place in this discussion. 

Some work in drawing may be advisable for pupils, but in 
common with the manual arts, the best results from the stand- 
point of mind development for the majority of pupils are ob- 
tained when this subject is given in the grades unless the high 
school pupil approaches it from one of two standpoints: (i) its 
relation to the development of the race as expressed in its 
architecture, its sculpture and its paintings : in this way it be- 
comes a course in art appreciation, or as a handmaid to the study 
of Greek, Roman, or medieval life ; or (2) its relation to the pro- 
ductive industries as they exist today. The first ideal has been 
but little tried. It is worthy of consideration if drawing is to 
have cultural value and take rank with language and history. 
The second ideal is now being approached. Courses are being 
developed in household decoration, the domestic arts of millinery 
and homemaking, machine design, house planning, farm build- 
ings, drawing, farm mechanics, etc. The commercial group 
should have some work in drawing. Good advertising matter; 
attractive placing of goods for ready sale, and color schemes for 
store decoration are essential considerations in store manage- 
ment and should be a direct application of good taste and design 
as taught in the special drawing course for the commercial group. 

The law states clearly certain conditions which a vocational 
school must meet in order to be considered as entitled to special 
State aid. (i) It must be independently organized — not neces- 



sarily a separate building but most assuredly established with a 
distinct vocational purpose in mind; (2) it must have an enrol- 
ment of at least 25 ; (3) it must employ the full time of a teacher; 
and (4) it must have a course of study meeting the approval of 
the Commissioner of Education. The first three conditions ad- 
mit of no changes and are to be enforced in all places without 
variation from the word of the law. The fourth condition allows 
for considerable latitude and discretion. The course of study is 
not defined by the law ; it may vary in different localities and 
connect with the different local industries, which vary in differ- 
ent parts of this great State. The course of study in agriculture 
and related subjects may emphasize dairying in St Lawrence 
county, and fruit growing in Ontario county. An industrial 
course may concern itself with the shoe industry of Rochester 
or the knitting mills of Utica ; it may omit mechanical drawing 
in Gloversville and emphasize it in Schenectady. The vocational 
training may be of rather the general industrial nature in Albany 
or have its specific trade aspects in Lackawanna. The only 
points that need to be considered in the establishment of such a 
school course in a high school system are: (i) Is it established to 
meet the vocational purpose in education? (2) Does it meet the 
requirements of the law? 

The Department has ruled that five-twelfths of the weekly 
program of a vocational school department must be given over 
to the vocational studies chosen from the elective group. This 
particular ratio was settled upon after considering two proposi- 
tions, (i) The present requirements for an academic diploma 
call for 41 counts in certain studies, primarily liberal. These 
counts closely approximate seven-twelfths of the total number, 
J2, required for a diploma. (2) Vocational training of high 
school grade demands a certain amount of liberal training. 
Preparation for a vocation should have academic recognition 
through a diploma if the work is of high school grade. The 
placing of the ratio five-twelfths vocational to seven-twelfths 
liberal will satisfy, the time elements of both divisions of the 
course of study. Consequently the pupils in the vocational 
school course have the same liberalizing studies, or their equiva- 
lent, as do pupils in other courses. They take the same Depart- 
ment examinations in English, history, algebra, geometry and 
biology when they follow the same syllabus as other pupils. 
When the school offers, as it should, special and practical courses 



8 

in mathematics and science beyond, or in place of, those just 
mentioned, the work is inspected and if the definite outlines sub- 
mitted to the Department are satisfactory, if the teacher is 
trained for his work, and if it is seen that he can make direct 
and useful applications of the abstract to the concrete shop, labo- 
ratory, or field work of the home and the school, then the De- 
partment grants credits without examination. No examinations 
are given in the vocational subjects proper. 

There are now 35 industrial and trade schools, employing 145 
teachers. These schools have a day enrolment of 3370 pupils and 
an evening enrolment of 2933 pupils, Or a total enrolment of 
6303 pupils. There are 527 other pupils using the equipment, 
but not enrolled in these schools. 

VOCATIONAL COURSES IN AGRICULTURE 

In some respects agricultural teaching in the village high 
school can be more practical in its presentation than industrial 
teaching in the city schools where many children are unfamiliar 
with the actual applications of industry and spend their time 
outside of school hours apart from any real contact with the 
industrial subjects about which they are studying. The country 
child is more apt to know something about the practical home 
work of the farm. If he does not, the parent is at fault. 

It is this daily contact with the farm that makes agricultural 
teaching in our high schools so possible and practical. The 
country school, above all others, may have the most effective 
and the most genuine education. At the same time some farmers, 
usually clear-headed, oppose vocational training because, as they 
phrase it, " school is the place in which to learn things an-d my 
boy can get all the farming he needs under my direction. He 
has got to farm it all his life and now is his chance to get an 
education." It is worth while to examine the true purpose and 
methods of agricultural teaching in our high schools. 

'The village high school now offers courses in English, history, 
mathematics, science, languages, and drawing. Forty-one counts 
are required in the four subjects first named and thirty-one 
counts may be gained from other subjects offered in the curric- 
ulum. It is agreed that every pupil should have four years of 
English, two years of history, two years of mathematics, and 
two years of science. If the pupil is going to college he must 
elect such other subjects as will fit him to meet the entrance 



requirements. If he is not going to college and his formal edu- 
cation is to finish with the secondary school he must hunt 
through the electives announced and find thirty-one counts made 
up of drawing, music, language, economics, physiology and other 
subjects offered in the curriculum in order to receive an academic 
diploma. While these elective subjects have educational value 
they are not so grouped as to furnish a vocational or even an 
educational motive for taking them as is the case with these elec- 
tives offered to the pupil who is going to college. The latter 
must group his electives for a definite purpose — that of fitting 
himself to pass the entrance examinations. The boy who is to 
be a farmer is practically obliged to tag on at the end of the pro- 
cession while a few people who are going to college set the pace 
and name the tune. 

To find a way by which these tag ends can be grouped to lead 
to the fulfilment of a vocational purpose as definite as is the case 
of college preparation is the spirit and method which underlies 
the agricultural school courses in our village high schools. The 
purpose of the latter is to prepare boys and girls for living in 
the open country and the meeting of the requirements of this 
living in as clean-cut and purposeful a manner as other long- 
established courses have been doing. 

When the question of establishing an agricultural school 
course in accordance with article 22 of the Education Law was 
under discussion in the Department, there was called a meeting 
of men prominent in the varied agricultural interests of the 
State. Representatives were present from the State Department 
of Agriculture, the State College of Agriculture, the State 
Grange, various agricultural societies, the State xA.gricultural 
Experiment Station, and the State schools of agriculture. The 
meat of the discussion resolved itself into two heads: (i) Could 
the high school give practical teaching in agriculture? 
(2) Would the pupils electing such a course receive at the same 
time a liberal education? These were two very practical 
questions. 

It was agreed that the instruction must be practical. To 
define the word " practical " was the next step. Did it imply 
that every high school teaching agriculture would be expected 
to have a cow barn, acres of planted crops and extensive experi- 
mental laboratories similar to the State schools and college of 
agriculture? This question has come up at nearly every district 



lO 

meeting when the matter of establishing a conrse in agriculture 
has been presented. Many taxpayers in these districts through 
attendance at " farmers' week " are familiar with the extensive 
equipment of the State schools and they naturally question the 
feasibility of going' into agricultural teaching in the local schools 
in view of precedents set by the higher schools. The question is 
a natural one. But citizens miss the point of attack in teaching 
agriculture in our high schools. 

Every village high school as already implied now has courses 
in biology, physics, chemistry and drawing. The first three re-" 
quire laboratory equipments and a trained teacher of science. 
These sciences are at the basis of all intelligent farming. Some 
farmers may not be fully aware of the fact that they are applying 
scientific princi])les in their d'Cvelopment of soil fertility and 
farm management. Neither they nor their children may know 
why the planting of clover increases soil fertility. Both are pos- 
sibly excusable if they have never received scientific training. But 
for the boy not to know the why and wherefore of such a method of 
restoring soil fertility when he is taking a course in science in the 
local high school is to make science teaching in our high schools a 
snare and a delusion. We can not censure the father for his lack of 
knowledge ; he never had a fair chance. He wants his boy to have 
one. We can not blame the boy for not knowing scientific agricul- 
ture if he is not taught it. But we can blame the school that does 
not do its duty by the community. 

It is not necessary to have a large farm attached to the school 
property in order to plant clover. There is land enough at home. 
It is simply necessary to bring together the school science and the 
farm practice — to have in the school the "why" and to have on 
the farm the " how." Any intelligent and responsive farmer can 
allow his boy to experiment with a few hills of potatoes, using dif- 
ferent methods of planting and fertilizing in order to illustrate 
principles which he has learned from books and school laboratory 
experiments. In the fall of the year the results of his labor and 
study may be gathered and compared with those of other pupils. 
The results of such procedure in our western states amply justify 
the practicability of such methods. For another illustration let us 
consider the present instruction in drawing in our village schools. 
It is centered around design and representation and deals largely 
with drawing from casts, the making of landscapes, and drawing 
leaves and flowers. If the boys have any mechanical drawing it 



II 

usually relates itseli to views of cones, prisms and intersections, 
or to screw threads, gears and cams. It is taught with absolutely no 
relation to farm life. A working drawing of a silo, a trap nest, or a 
poultry house would be worth while. Surely the mental develop- 
ment resulting is as great in the latter as in the former, and, be- 
sides, these practical problems have present and future interest to 
the boys. 

There is a place in our system of education for colleges of agri- 
culture and State schools of agriculture. They have a field for 
preparing boys and girls of their own. They may have extensive 
equipment. But the vast majority of our youth live at home and 
attend the village school. They do not need to milk a State-sup- 
ported cow in order to get a quart of milk for laboratory 
analysis, or to use a $50,000 State barn to learn something about 
how to redesign their own barn, or to get away from farm chores 
that they may go to school in order to learn to be farmers. Some 
common sense must enter into these matters. If we want our boys 
and girls to stay on the farm, help the older folks with the chores, 
and obtain at the same time an education, the village high schools 
had better get into line to hold these young people. There will 
be time enough for them to leave the home to go away to school 
when they are old enough to go and when they have exhausted the 
educational possibilities of the local schools. 

A homemaking course for the girls is proposed. In common with 
the boys they have a vocation for which to prepare. This vocation 
ma}^ be broader than the term " homemaking " implies. It may 
include more than practice in cooking, sewing, millinery and dress- 
making. Our country girls may be trained in some fields of farm 
practice which they can easily and effectively do well, such as poultry 
raising, fruit growing and dairying. The course substitutes house- 
hold economics for some of the agricultural subjects elected by the 
boys and at the same time provides for some agricultural elective. 
In common with the vocational course for the boys it furnishes a 
liberal training equivalent to that received by other girls in the 
school who do not elect this course. 

Girls as well as boys may be admitted to the regular agricultural 
courses and are specially advised to elect the work in poultry hus- 
bandry, fruit growing, at least one-half the work in dairying, and 
the home project work, in all cases where a complete course in home 
economics is not yet established in the school or is not desired by 
the individual pupil. 

It is expected that the majority of high schools which have agri- 



12 

cultural teaching will endeavor to adjust this work in such a way 
that they may avail themselves of the special quota of $500 allowed, 
for the service of first teacher in a vocational school. The Educa- 
tion Law relating to '' schools of agriculture, mechanic arts and 
homeniaking " is very specific in reference to this, as already stated. 

Separate organization does not require a separate building. It 
does require a definite and separate register of pupils, a definite 
yearly report to the Department and a definite purpose distinct 
enough from any other educational purpose within the school to 
avoid any obscuring of the vocational idea. The vocational 
work is not to be mingled or confused with the work of other 
departments or courses, though including much in common with 
them. The plan of work need not prevent pupils enrolled in 
" schools " of agriculture, mechanic arts and homemaking from 
reciting English, history and other " book studies " in the same 
classes with other pupils in the local school system. It should be 
kept in mind that the " agricultural school course "' docs not refer 
merely to a single line of study hut to a group of related studies 
forming in itself a scheme of education having a distinct vocational 
purpose. 

The special vocational teachers must devote their entire time 
to teaching agriculture, mechanic arts, cooking, sewing, book- 
work relating to agriculture, etc. If the school program is so 
arranged that these teachers have any spare time they may 
devote such extra time to teaching the aforementioned subjects 
to pupils other than those enrolled in the special agricultural, 
mechanic arts, or homemaking courses. 

At least 25 pupils should be enrolled in the " school course " 
and " homemaking." Pupils who elect only a part of the work 
in these courses in order to complete requirements for academic 
graduation, are not .counted in making up the 25 pupils. In order 
to be counted as one of the required 25 the Department has ruled 
that the pupil must devote to vocational subjects an average of 
five-twelfths of his time, 30 counts out of a total of 72, through- 
out the course. In many schools availing themselves of the 
provisions of the law there are some pupils who elect some agri- 
cultural work but do not elect the full course. These pupils take 
what has already been explained by the term " academic 
agriculture." 

The course of study is intended to be flexible. Selections for 
intensive study are to be made of topics in the agricultural sylla- 



13 

bus that can be most effectively taught from the standpoint 
of community interest and adequate illustration, while present- 
ing also a well-balanced general knowledge of the whole field of 
agricultural science and practice. The instruction aims to touch 
in a direct way the pupil's activities and interests in the home, 
shop, field and garden, and concerns itself with problems that 
are concrete and obviously educational because of their practical 
value. 

It is kept in mind that the purpose of these courses under 
special teachers is to help any resident of the district. Already 
this type of education is appealing to boys who can not attend 
school €very day or for the full school term, as well as to adults. 
There is every reason to believe that these special schools may 
become the centers of agricultural interest. The teachers of 
agriculture and homemaking should be so expert in their special- 
ties that patrons of the school will seek technical information. 
The school buildings may well provide exhibit space for samples 
of crops, seeds, implements etc. 

The concrete results so far as they affect the adoption of the 
special agricultural course appear as follows : 

Schools adopting agricultural course 19 

Schools postponing adoption until later 12 

Schools rejecting adoption 3 

The schools here referred to are named under the following 
headings : 

Districts adopting agricultural course 

Albion Little Valley ^Penn Yan 

Belleville Lowville Perry 

Belmont iLyons Red Creek 

Gowanda Millbrook Tully 

Hancock Moravia Walton 

Hannibal Nevi^ark Valley 

Highland North Cohocton and Atlanta 

Districts postponing adoption 
Arcade " East Springfield Horseheads 

Batavia East Syracuse Manlius 

Cambridge Fairport Newark 

Cincinnatus Greenwich 

Clinton Hammondsport 

Districts rejecting adoption 
Dundee Patterson Sodus ' 

1 Submitted courses not yet approved by the Department. 



14 

A number of the schools that have postponed the starting of 
a "vocational " course in 191 1 will in the meantime continue or 
begin an " academic " course in agriculture under the best teacher 
available in the school, which may entitle them to Regents credits 
but not to the State allotment of $500 annually. At present 18 
high schools are teaching academic agriculture to 198 students. 

THE TRADE SCHOOL 

The policy of the open door in education demands, not as 
some are inclined to favor, the avoidance of a type of school 
which will definitely prepare, as far as a school may, boys and 
girls for specific trades, but rather the definite establishment of 
schools which will accomplish this purpose. It is evident from 
the discussion of the place of the general industrial school and 
the vocational school courses in existing high schools, that ample 
justice has been done to the open door policy. Pupils in the 
former school have received not only a good elementary educa- 
tion but also have made the beginnings toward a preparation for 
trade and industry. In the latter type every opportunity has 
been given to encourage in every possible manner a type of vo- 
cational training which ma}^ very properly belong to a class of 
pupils enrolled in a secondary school. Its course of instruction 
is dignified, thoroughly educational, and worthy of a recognition 
equivalent to other high school courses. No boy capable of 
doing what amounts to an equivalent of high school work is 
prevented from doing vocational work of that order and from 
receiving academic recognition for his accomplishment. He 
will, upon graduation, take, or will make his way to, that place 
which befits one who has completed a course of instruction 
covering twelve years of his life. For the school system to have 
been able to do the definite work of preparing pupils of high 
school age and attainment for definite vocations and at the same 
time to have given them the equivalent of a high school educa- 
tion, is a test worthy of any secondary school. 

The work of preparing our youth for vocations, however, is 
not completed with either of the schemes proposed, for two 
reasons, (i) The general industrial school, which is a feeder 
to the apprenticeship system or to a higher school, is based upon 
the supposition that somewhere a door is open to its graduates. 
One of these higher schools is the vocational school course in the 
high school ; the other is the trade school. (2) In order that 



^5 

there may actually be an open door it is necessary that the school 
system make provision for those who desire further education 
but do not care for, and it may be presumed can not successfully 
maintain the academic standards of a course of study which parallel^ 
in any way the regular high school. 

"The general industrial, or intermediate industrial school, is in-, 
tended to explore through various kinds of industrial work, the 
industrial capacities of children. It assumes that teachers will keep 
a watchful eye upon individual interests. In short, it assumes 
that when a boy leaves this school he has some knowledge of 
where he is going and some preparation for his work. Some 
boys will know, for example, that they want to be plumbers. 
They know this because the intermediate school gave them some 
instruction in tinsmithing, sheet metal work, and mechanical 
drawing together with the elements of other groups of trades. 
They deserve the open door. To open the door to a high school 
course is to ofifer an opening through which they can not and 
will not pass. In effect, it is really a closed door. To furnish 
them a place where they can learn a trade after they have settled 
upon it is the best kind of an open door. 

There are some very definite principles in the organization oi 
trade schools which need to be considered. 

I Pupils enter these schools with a well-defined purpose. The 
period of trying out is finished. They are there to learn a spe- 
cific trade to the full extent that is possible in any school plan. 

2. This type of school absolutely abandons any specific in- 
struction in the so-called liberal studies. This may seem harsh, 
but we must remember that the pupil has enrolled for one pur- 
pose and it is fortunate that the school has even one thing, nar- 
row though it may appear to be, to ofifer him. The pupil of a 
trade school is not the type that can be held in school through 
any liberal studies which are frankly apart from his pressing 
needs as he sees them. We must recognize that he is sixteen 
years old, that his school days are numbered and that if his 
participation in the educative process for eight years before com- 
ing to the school has not done something in the way of liberal 
training, it never will. There is no law compelling him to attend 
school, possibly no parents who have broad ideas of educational 
values, no full pocketbook to allow for leisurely walking through 
the halls of learning — nothing but the bare economic necessities 
of the individual case. All the culture which he is to receive 



i6 

must come directly from his trade instruction. The question 
naturally arises. How much can trade instruction do to make 
him see beyond the attainment of mere hand skill? A great 
deal. In the first place, it is assmned that the trade instructor 
is himself a man who has the true spirit of craftsmanship. He 
may not be learned, as the saying is, but he has a clean character, 
believes in honest work, knows something of the economic ques- 
tions which enter into his trade, reads iiis weekly trade paper, 
is able to apply those book and technical studies which have 
direct application to his craft, and has the ability to inspire his 
pupils by personal example and instruction to do the best for 
themselves. In the second place, it is .taken for granted that 
there can never be genuine trade instruction without some 
accompaniment of the application to the trade practice of mathe- 
matics, science, economics, and other subjects. 

3 The trade school organization requires a very different 
method than is now, or is likely to be, in vogue in other types 
of vocational training. The intermediate and secondary voca- 
tional schools have in their organization a number of teachers — 
some on the shop and some on the bookwork side. The shop- 
work and bookwork are closely correlated, but this is brought 
about through cooperation between two kinds of instruction — 
one primarily vocational, the other primarily liberal and dis- 
ciplinary. Fortunately, both have the good sense to work to- 
gether for a common end. The problem in such schools is one 
of making a close adjustment between the two kinds, and the 
success of these types, as has already been pointed out, depends 
largely upon the definiteness of their relationship. One isees, 
however, that there is always the problem of adjustment, and 
the more subjects in the course and the greater the number of 
teachers to which each pupil reports, the more difficult becomes 
the fulfilment of this adjustment. But the trade school organi- 
zation is on a very different basis. Here the particular trade 
represented forms a school unit in itself. There should be no 
departments of history, English, mathematics, drawing etc. in 
this type of school. These subjects, or others which are neces- 
sary to trade proficiency, must be taught by the teacher of the 
trade. He is the mastercraftsman who knows what is needed 
quickly and effectively to prepare pupils for the craft which he 
represents. He asks no aid of a teacher of mathematics or 
science. He spends no time attempting to bring about an ad- 



I? 

justment of the work of another teacher to his particular work. 
The pupil should not have to adjust two ideas as presented by 
two teachers. It is one trade taught by one teacher. 

Probably an example or two will make the foregoing principle 
clear. Consider the teaching of the printing trade. A room is 
set apart in a school building; a first-class, clean-cut printer is 
engaged as a teacher ; a proper equipment is provided ; not more 
than fifteen pupils are enrolled in the class. The trade problem 
before us is the printing of the school report. Many points 
must be considered beyond the mere picking up of the type. 
The type must be selected with due regard to size of book and 
the expense involved. The proper paper has to be selected, its 
finish, the size of the sheets to be cut up into leaves, the number 
of folios estimated from the amount of manuscript for the quan- 
tity of paper required, the proper proportion of width to length 
of page, the colors of the ink, the tone of the cover, the spacing 
of the title pages, the ornamentation, the tail pieces, the border 
lines, the position of the cuts inserted, the proper spelling, para- 
graphing, punctuation etc. Here are questions which lead 
into arithmetic, design, spelling, grammar and punctuation. We 
do not need to send the pupil to the drawing teacher, to the 
teacher of arithmetic, or to the teacher of English. If our 
teacher of printing is what we expect him to be he knows the 
answers to the questions and it will be his business to bring 
before the individual these points when they come up in the 
problem. 

Consider another illustration — that of the plumbing trade. 
Questions arise about the reading of house plans, of applying 
simple problems in the flow of liquids, of using different iorms 
of traps, of knowing tables of specific gravities, of weights per 
linear foot of different materials, of cubical contents of different 
vessels, of melting points of different solids, and of estimating 
- cost of installation of plumbing fixtures. This work need not 
be delegated to various departments of mathematics, science, 
and drawing. Our plumbing teacher knows his business, and 
the time of the boy is short. 

It is readily seen that somehow, unconsciously perhaps, the 
pupil has absorbed some of the disciplinary studies of which we 
were afraid he was about to be deprived. Furthermore, the 
teacher can do something more than we sometimes think toward 
giving the pupils a taste for the liberalizing studies of economics 



iS 

and history. It is assumed that our teacher is really alive to 
the human needs of the vocation, that he knows about trade 
unionism, the effect of hours and wages upon prices, sometbing 
of the history of printing, the benefits to human progress of the 
invention of the printing press, and a score of other points which 
have made him, through reading and observation, an intelligent 
printer. One has no right to suppose for a moment that this 
information is not to be drawn out of our instructor by wide- 
awake boys, that the class is not going to ask questions about 
these things, that the teacher is not going to respond. Besides, 
we expect that the school will invite men prominent in the trade 
to talk to the boys about the technical and economic questions 
involved in the art of printing. There is more " education " in 
a trade school than one is prepared to see at first glance. To be 
sure, some trades do not appear to have very much educational 
content. It is easy to settle this point, for these trades will not 
be taught in a school. Trade schools are a part of an educational 
system — not a part of a scheme which merely supplies the labor 
market with a material less capable than it now has. 

4 The trade schools must keep longer hours than the present 
schools. In this respect, as in many others, they must approach 
shop conditions. They have no connection with other schools ; 
the pupils do not recite any subject with others. The trade 
school is the professional school for the industrial worker and it 
presupposes that it is his final schooling place and that he desires 
to make his time of attendance as short as possible, consistent 
with all-round trade training. He is there to reduce his time of 
apprenticeship and every hour counts. If he was not in the 
school he w^ould be in the shop or factory working 54 hours a 
week and it will not be any hardship to provide longer school 
hours for him. 

5 The trade school pupil ought, in justice to his vocational 
preparation, abandon all ideas of going to college; not that he 
will be prevented from going to a higher school, but rather that 
his particular open door leads to the factory or shop. It is his 
professional school just as for others, is a law, medical, or dental 
school. No lawyer is prevented from becoming a minister, but 
a change in vocational purpose necessarily means a retracing of 
educational effort. At some time every one must decide what 
he proposes to do and then go about to accomplish his purpose. 



6 The classes in a trade school will have a smaller class unit^ 
It will be impossible to give proper instruction to a class number- 
ing over fifteen or twenty. Most of it must be, in the nature 
of the case, individual instruction, 

7 Obviously, the trade school can not guarantee finished work- 
men any more than the law schools send out finished lawyers. 
The combination of school training and actual practice will make" 
very efficient workmen. The trade school with its shopwork 
and its theory of trade practice will lay an excellent foundation 
upon which to build individual advancement when the worker enters 

the shop. 

SYSTEM OF CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 

Industrial education needs to extend to the still smaller in- 
dustrial communities. It should relate itself in some way to 
specific trade needs. For example, consider the city of Corning. 
It has extensive glass manufacturing interests, which is the chief 
industry of the city. It is highly improbable that a trade school 
for glassworkers will ever be established unless we hit upon a 
different plan of organization than has been mentioned thus far. 
Again, there is the town of Depew. It has large railroad repair 
shops. It is unlikely that this community would, or even could, 
support a trade school for the machine trades and provide the 
necessary expensive equipment. There are at least 70 towns in 
the State like the two mentioned. They are industrially import- 
ant and their workers are as worthy of educational attention as 
those who reside in Rochester or Utica. Some of these towns 
are Green Island, Watervliet, Endicott, Norwich, Cortland, 
Rouses Point, Matteawan, East Aurora, Malone, Dolgeville, 
Frankfort, Ilion, Dansville, Geneseo, Mount Morris, Honeoye 
Falls, St Johnsville, Whitehall, Skaneateles, and Middletown. 
To be sure, a vocational course may be established in their high 
schools but such a course can not be properly handled unless 
there is expensive equipment, although it must be granted that not 
all equipment for these schools is expensive or out of the range of 
possibilities of installation. The cost of equipment depends upon the 
trades represented. 

It is safe to assume that the only solution open for these small 
places by which they can provide definite instruction in trade 
lines will be for them to establish day continuation schools 
which provide for an equitable distribution of the responsibilities 



20 

for instruction between the shop in which the youth is employed 
and the school in which he may be expected to attend for a few 
hours a week. All the bookwork in the schools applies directly to 
the business in which he finds himself, when the trade at which 
he is working calls for any special knowledge, while the shop 
itself supplies the trade atmosphere. In this way the boys and 
girls in the smaller industrial centers will be receiving vocational 
training and will not be neglected as they necessarily will be if 
the State considers a scheme of industrial training which includes 
only general industrial vocational courses in high schools and 
trade schools. The city of Lackawanna will serve as a good 
illustration. At present it has no manual training and no vo- 
cational training of any nature. It has a relatively small high 
school enrolment. It has a class of people which expects its chil- 
dren to go to work early. There is but one great industry in 
the city and that is steel manufacture. The interests of the city 
and of the industry are closely united. Something should be 
done in the way of vocational training, but no plan will work 
which does not provide on the part of the boy for " earning as 
well as learning," and for the avoidance on the part of the city 
of a great outlay of money for equipment. The continuation 
school seems to be the only solution. 

Schools now open their doors to children in the evening; but 
evening instruction for the child bet"/een fourteen and seventeen 
is not effective when he is fatigued in will and body. Primarily 
evening schools should be for young men and women, for those 
who know what they want through the hard school of experi- 
ence. No note of disparagement is intended of the value of 
evening schools for those who are old enough and physically 
developed enough to do the work. But the pace of the modern 
shop or department store makes it hard indeed for the growing 
boy or girl to do good evening school work after a long, hard 
day spent at a machine or at a bundle counter. Germany has 
largely superseded her evening schools for young apprentices by 
the more effective day continuation school. England has built 
practically her entire scheme of industrial education upon the 
evening school phase and is now seeing her mistake. 

Signs are already indicated on the horizon that compulsory edu- 
cation laws will be so amended, developed and extended as to 
include much more than age maturitv. The agitation for a 



21 

change of procedure is strong in such progressive states as 
Ilhnois, Ohio, New York and Massachusetts. The last general 
assembly of Ohio enacted a law authorizing boards of education 
to open continuation schools and to require the attendance of 
all between fourteen and sixteen years of age who have working 
papers unless they have completed the eighth grade. The at- 
tendance required can not exceed eight hours in the day time of 
each week. The board of education of Cincinnati was the first 
to pass resolutions in accordance with this act. It has notified 
all who are granted work certificates that they will be required 
to attend such schools after September 191 1. These schools will 
'therefore be compulsory. They will continue the education of 
those who go to work until they are sixteen. The common- 
branches will be taught and a decided effort will be made "to 
keep control of children through this trying period, to imbue 
them with correct ideals of citizenship and to give them voca- 
tional guidance and training." The State already has the over- 
sight of hours of labor, of sanitary conditions of the factory, of 
the use of certain dangerous machinery. If it has these rights, 
is it not fair to presume that it has the further right of over- 
seeing the mental conditions under which children work and to 
apply corrective measures? 

TEACHERS OF VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 

Trained teachers are needed for the vocational schools. Some 
cautious people would postpone the starting of these schools 
until we have a trained body of candidates from which to draw. 
Five years ago there was a need for perhaps five teachers in 
intermediate industrial bookwork. Not one who had experience 
in such work could be found, obviously, because previous to 
that time there were in existence no such schools from which to 
■draw. There is perhaps a demand for one hundred such teachers 
now and the country at large can draw from a list of probably 
not more than twenty-five. For some years the arm of the 
balance will lean heavily toward the demand. Eventually it will 
"be even. But at present it can hardly be expected that a thousand 
people will rush in to be trained when only one hundred posi- 
tions await them. Even Germany finds that good industrial 
teachers are scarce. The man who is school trained is said to be' 
theoretical ; the ordinary skilled workman is " too heavy." A 



22 

man may know his trade but be unable to impart the knowledge 
to a pupil. One such teacher was overheard to remark to a 
pupil, " Get out of my way; I will plane the piece for you." He 
was a good workman but not a teacher. 

It is probably true that it is impossible for the average normal 
training school to fit students for teaching in shop positions 
in the vocational schools unless these students have had shop 
experience before entering the school or obtained such experience 
after graduation. Neither will the present methods in normal 
training qualify graduates to place the proper emphasis on the 
bookwork of the vocational schools upon the application to 
various trades of science, mathematics, and shop accounts. 

New York is the first state to undertake definitely the training 
of teachers for vocational work. It recognized at the start that 
no one source of supply would be sufficient, nor would one par- 
ticular method of training be advisable. At present there are 
three State normal institutions, two universities, and two tech- 
nical institutes which are training teachers for one or more of 
the proposed types of vocational schools. The last two classes 
of institutions have had courses for some years in the training 
of teachers for the manual, household and decoratiA^e arts. Re- 
cently some of these latter institutions have modified and enlarged 
the scope of their instruction to meet the more specific and 
practical requirements of the vocational school movement. Con- 
sequently the newer work even in the longer established courses 
is in the same experimental stage as that of the new courses 
established in the State normal institutions. Even though the 
work of training teachers is new, marked progress has been made 
in every class of instruction mentioned. 

The State Normal College has two courses : one for training 
teachers of the manual arts, the other for training teachers for 
schools of homemaking. These courses have been in operation 
for two years. 

The Bufifalo State Normal School has vocational courses for men 
and women. In the household arts department with accommodations 
for comfortably handling forty-eight, the registration is seventy- 
two. In order to operate this department it has been found neces- 
sary to raise the admission requirements by excluding all who are 
not high school graduate? and adding to the high school require- 
ments physics and chemistry. The entering class in this depart- 
ment this year numbers eighteen. In the vocational work for men 



23 

nine were registered last year in the day school. It is a fact worth 
noting- that all of these students work part time in the factories of 
the city while attending the school, thereby acquiring the skill which 
is desired for a teacher of vocational education, in addition to the 
pedagogical training which the school is imparting. These students, 
moreover, are having abundant opportunity for practice teaching, 
either in the school shops of the city or in the better equipped 
settlement houses. 

This normal school has an evening training school for the me- 
chanics who desire to fit themselves as teachers. In the fall of 
1910 six men entered vocational evening classes and five com- 
pleted the year's work. Four of these have returned for the second 
year's training. The second year for the vocational evening classes 
has opened with a registration of thirty-two new students. These 
are all men who are skilled mechanics and are coming to the school 
for the training in teaching. They appear to be a very intelligent 
and promising lot of men and the increase in registration over 
last year is an indication that the work is attracting favorable 
consideration. 

The experience of both of these State institutions indicates that 
abstract subjects in the courses of study for these prospective teach- 
ers, such as psychology and history of education, are not desirable 
and that practically all of the efforts now given to these lines should 
be directed toward planning courses of work and equipment; to 
developing the art of teaching industrial subjects; and to the giving 
of instruction in shop mathematics, electricity and mechanics which 
are intimately connected with the trade instruction. 

The Cortland State Normal School has started a course in train- 
ing teachers of agriculture. Its work will not rival the agricultural 
colleges. It is intended to prepare teachers to carry on any of the 
scitoce work, including the allied sciences of agriculture, outlined 
in the syllabus of 1910. The two-year course is open to men at 
-least sixteen years of age, who have had farm experience, and 
who have a diploma of graduation from a course (or the equivalent) 
prescribed by the Commissioner of Education for admission to 
normal schools. The one-year course is open to young men who 
are high school graduates, or have had equivalent education, have 
"had farm experience, hold a life certificate valid in this State and 
have had at least one year's successful experience in teaching. 

A school garden, maintained in connection with the practice school; 
and an eleven-acre tract of splendid farm land under the control of 



24 

the school, offer exceptional opportunities for experimental work. 
Several good dairy farms are in the vicinity of the school. The 
owners of these farms have assured the authorities that their herds, 
barns and equipment will be at the service of the classes in agri- 
culture. While the equipment of the school, both in point of labora- 
tories and land, is vtry good, it is, and probably will be, impossible 
to equip and maintam a complete set of farms. The materials and 
equipment of dairy farms, truck gardens, fruit orchards, and general 
farms and the advice and assistance of the owners have been freely 
extended. This will put the school in touch with the neighborhood 
and the neighborhood in touch with the school — a relation which 
should exist both for the highest good of the school and the 
neighborhood. 

The Rochester Mechanics Institute has an enviable record for 
training teachers for the older phases of industrial work in the public 
schools. Obviously, this work will be continued, but beginning with 
this year the institution is making an effort to interest a number of 
intelligent journeymen workers in training for the newer trade or 
vocational schools. The institution now has two such men enrolled. 
It also has four women with shop experience who are fitting them- 
selves for teachers of dressmaking and millinery. Furthermore, the 
school has twenty-tv;o students fitting themselves for manual train- 
ing in the grades and high school and one hundred ninety-four 
women training for the household arts courses in the grades and 
high school. 

Syracuse University has announced that it is about to group 
certain courses looking toward the necessary preparation of teachers 
and will add a specialist to give instruction in farm management 
subjects, expecting him to take charge of and properly correlate the 
work of students in agriculture in this university. The temporary 
supervisor of agricultural instruction writes to the division as fol- 
lows : " Probably twelve students are preparing themselves to teach 
' vocational ' agriculture, i. e., in high schools qualifying for State 
aid. At least fifteen students are trying to qualify themselves to 
teach ' academic ' agriculture, i. e., a one-year high school course. 
Of persons studying agriculture — the syllabus course — in the 
summer school we had five persons." 

The Teachers College of Columbia University has strong courses 
for training teachers of vocational schools. The total candidates for 
degrees, diplomas, and certificates for the current academic year 
1911-12 were: 



Industrial arts : 
in education 



49 



in drafting 12 

Commercial arts : 

in education 3 

in clerical work 3 

Household arts : 

in education 385 

in technical fields 141 



Totaf 593 

In addition, special students are received who do not become can- 
didates for degrees and diplomas. These students, for 1910-11, 
numbered 56 in industrial arts and 485 in household arts. Further, 
the evening technical course in industry and commerce in the school 
of industrial arts enrolled 369 in 1910-11, This makes a total regis- 
tration in the two technical schools of the Teachers College of ap- 
proximately 1500. 

ATTITUDE OF FEDERATIONS OF LABOR 

There is every evidence of a general indorsement within the 
State of the vocational work of the Department by those officially 
connected with the labor union movement. The executive council 
of the New York State Federation of Labor in session at Albany 
December 14 and 15, 1910, made an inspection of the vocational 
school work of Albany and at this time went into some of the 
details of the general State movement for vocational educatiori. 
A letter was received from the secretary-treasurer in which he 
states that " the members were much impressed with what they 
saw and gave an unqualified approval of the work as conducted." 
There is absolutely no reason why such an organization should 
.not give its approval, but it is a satisfaction to have definite' 
approbation, based as it was upon a rather careful investigation. 

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE ' ' 

While it is true that the time has passed for the let-alone 
policy of fitting peopfe for vocations, there immediately comes 
up the tremendous questions, Whom shall we fit? For what shall 
we fit? How shall we fit? Vocational guidance and vocational 
schools are intimatelv related. We need not onlv vocational 



26 

schools but also information as to the conditions of employment, 
the wages, the future prospects of various occupations, as well 
as a knowledge of the educational opportunities and requirements 
for efficiency iii the occupations. It is quite clear that provision 
for adequate training, for systematic counseling, and for definite 
knowledge of requirements of trade and industry go hand in_ 
hand. An organized plan is needed for advising young people 
as to the continuance of their schooling and the choosing of their 
life work. 

In Germany and Scotland well-organized departments in the 
public schools have been established for this work. It does not 
consist of mere advice to pupils; neither does it concern itself 
merely with the functions of an employment bureau. It does 
aim through knowledge of the pupil's makeup, to give good 
advice, to guide him into the right kind of school and then to 
assist him in getting the right sort of a job. The duties of the 
Edinburgh bureau of educational information and employment 
follow : 

1 To interview boys and girls and their parents or guardians, 
and advise them with regard to further educational courses and 
most suitable occupations. 

2 To prepare leaflets and pamphlets or tabulated matter giving 
to the pupils information about continuation work. 

3 To keep in touch with the general requirements of employers 
and revise from time to time the statistics about employment. 

4 To prepare and revise periodically statement of the trades 
and industries of the district, with rates of wages and conditions of 
employment. 

5 To keep a record of vacancies intimated by employers, and to 
arrange for suitable candidates having an opportunity to apply for 
such vacancies. 

The city of Munich issues a series of little handbooks, now 
over a hundred in number, which fully analyze the possibilities 
of the various vocations. If our boys knew more about the years 
of patient waiting, or waiting for patients, or the average income 
of a New York city doctor, perhaps the profession would not 
be so overcrowded. If the public knew that the mason, although 
he may receive eight dollars a day, works only on an average of 
176 days a year possibly there would be more fairness of state- 
ments regarding the wages paid this mechanic. If parents knew 
that men in brass foundries often had pulmonary troubles they 
would hesitate to apprentice weak-lunged boys to the industry. 



27 

If a boy really knew that low wages at the start may mean high 
wages at the end he would not be so anxious to get at the 
automatic machine which, through piecework, pays him not to 
learn something for himself but to earn much more for the 
company. Possibly there would be fewer children gomg into the 
blind alley of industries if they knew it had no opening at the 
other end. 

The movement for husbanding the serving powers of youth 
is ever increasing its range. It is a part of the cry for conser- 
vation. In four cities of the State the beginnings have been made 
looking toward a more extended knowledge of the demands and 
opportunities of trade and industry. 

For several years the students' aid committee of the High 
School Teachers Association, the chairman of which is E. W. 
Weaver of the Boys High School, Brooklyn, has done valuable 
work in assisting boys to define before leaving school their pur- 
poses in life and to consider the occupations best suited to realize 
them. Vocational petitions have been prepared for the boys and 
their parents. Nearly twenty leaflets have been published with 
such titles as Opportunities for Boys in Machine Shops, Choosing 
a Career, Vocational Adjustment of the Children of the Public 
Schools. A department of vocational guidance for the public 
schools of New York City has been recommended by the city 
superintendent. 

The board of education of Poughkeepsie, through an expert 
and with the assistance of the city teaching force, has compiled 
a pamphlet which it is expected will be of some help to girls 
leaving school in securing the first condition of success — knowl- 
€dge of a chosen vocation. The study includes the possibilities 
of salesmanship, stenography, telephone business, work in local 
factories, laundry work, work in private houses and institutions, 
manicuring, dressmaking etc. Under each heading are arranged 
the discussions of such topics as Education Required, Health, 
Advantages and Disadvantages of Particular Work, Hours, 
Salaries, Vacations, Reference Books. 

The board of education of Jamestown has established a voca- 
tion bureau, which is under the direction of the high school prin- 
cipal, the principal of the junior department, the principal's clerk, 
the director of manual training, the supervisor of drawing, a 
commercial teacher and one section teacher from each of the 
four classes appointed by the president of the council. The 



purpose of this bureau is (i) to furnish information and direc- 
tions to pupils preparing for, college or other institutions of, 
learning; (2) to assist pupils who may need help in securing tem- 
porary employment in vacation and out-of-school hours ; (3) to 
assist pupils not pursuing their education beyond the high school 
in determining their vocation and where possible to assist them 
in preparing therefor; (4) to help pupils to secure permanent 
positions, but it is not the policy of the bureau to recommend for 
permanent positions pupils who would otherwise remain in 
school ; (5) to keep a record of the pupils who leave school before 
completing their course and the reasons for their leaving — this 
with a view of doing what may be done to remove the causes and 
of getting those who leave to enter the night school; (6)as far as 
may be possible, to cooperate with parents in the matter of 
vocation for pupils; (7) to ascertain and classify the various voca- 
tions best suited to young people with high school trainingrand 
to collect such information as will assist them to make their 
choice; and (8) to cooperate with employers (especially in James- 
town) who may need the services of young people with high 
school training or who may furnish assistance and information 
necessary to the work of the bureau, and to invite their 
assistance. 

The principal of the Bufifalo Technical High School has organized 
a bureau within his school which outlines a plan very similar to 
Jamestown. The Buffalo plan has one great advantage over all 
others — it is accompanied by a system of vocational training withiit 
the school system. While it is worth something to study the serving 
powers of children, it is worth more to fit them to serve after we 
have studied their industrial tastes and capacities. 

The increasing complexity of our social and economic conditions 
makes it constantly more difficult for schools to fit in with the life 
about them. The number of vocations now open to youths of both 
sexes has greatly increased. We need vocational training but we 
need as well vocational knowledge based upon careful investigations. 
Every school principal should know the industries of his locality, tlK 
conditions for entrance, and the possibilities for success. The voca- 
tional teachers at least must have the information ; it is a part of their 
work to search out the opportunities for preparation, as w^ell as to 
provide the preparation. The interest in the movement for voca- 
lional guidance is now quite generally recognized. An excerpt is 



29 

taken from resolutions passed at the last meeting of the National 
Education Association : 

" Our public educational system should make provision for in- 
structing our youth concerning the various occupations, and the ad- 
vantages which the several employments offer; and, in addition, 
boys and girls and their parents should, when they desire it, be able 
to receive such intelligent counsel as will enable the young people 
entering upon life's work to judge for what vocation the abilities and 
tastes of each best fit him, as well as to find the place and the op- 
portunity to begin the work thus chosen." 



X 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

019 




